DUST BOWL - 1931 to 1938
Wheat was a real good thing. The world needed it and was paying a good price. So, after the phenomenal crop of 1926, farmers started plowing up acres upon acres to plant wheat without thinking of the damage that was being done. 1930 was dry but most of the farmers made a wheat crop. In 1931 the wheat crop was considered a bumper crop with over twelve million bushels of wheat. Wheat was everywhere, in the elevators, on the ground and in the road. The wheat supply forced the price down from sixty-eight cents/bushel in July 1930 to twenty-five cents/bushel in July 1931. Many farmers went broke and others abandoned their fields.
Then, the extremes started: blizzards, tornadoes, floods, droughts, and dust storms. It started with severe blizzards in 1931, followed by droughts and dust storms, killing most of the crops. Once it started, it didn't stop. The Dust Bowl finally found national attention in 1934, when a large dust storm raged from Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas blew all the way to New York and Washington D.C. 1934 also experienced large heat waves, with records being made and broken regularly. Hundreds had died from the heat alone.
Then, on Sunday, April 14, 1935, the sun came up on a clear sky. The day was warm and pleasant, with a slight breeze from the southwest, when a cloud appeared on the horizon. Traveling at 60 MPH, the cloud blanketed Boise City on "Black Sunday". By May, it had seemed the dirt and wind had been blowing for eternity. It was a year of intense dirt storms, gales, rollers, and floods mixed with economic depression , sickness, and disaster.
In June of 1936, dust storms increased and the temperature only got worse. This year was marked with its own series of earthquakes, from Kenton to Perryton and from Liberal to Stratford. Until 1938, dust storms and floods happened day after day, and farmers often unwillingly traded land as the land moved back and forth between Texas and Kansas. Finally, the Dust Bowl went out with a bang with the "snuster". The snuster was a blizzard made with a large mixture of snow and dirt that caused a tremendous amount of damage and suffering.
Black Sunday - This infamous dust storm caused day to turn to night and many people to believe the world was ending.
Wheat was a real good thing. The world needed it and was paying a good price. So, after the phenomenal crop of 1926, farmers started plowing up acres upon acres to plant wheat without thinking of the damage that was being done. 1930 was dry but most of the farmers made a wheat crop. In 1931 the wheat crop was considered a bumper crop with over twelve million bushels of wheat. Wheat was everywhere, in the elevators, on the ground and in the road. The wheat supply forced the price down from sixty-eight cents/bushel in July 1930 to twenty-five cents/bushel in July 1931. Many farmers went broke and others abandoned their fields.
Then, the extremes started: blizzards, tornadoes, floods, droughts, and dust storms. It started with severe blizzards in 1931, followed by droughts and dust storms, killing most of the crops. Once it started, it didn't stop. The Dust Bowl finally found national attention in 1934, when a large dust storm raged from Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas blew all the way to New York and Washington D.C. 1934 also experienced large heat waves, with records being made and broken regularly. Hundreds had died from the heat alone.
Then, on Sunday, April 14, 1935, the sun came up on a clear sky. The day was warm and pleasant, with a slight breeze from the southwest, when a cloud appeared on the horizon. Traveling at 60 MPH, the cloud blanketed Boise City on "Black Sunday". By May, it had seemed the dirt and wind had been blowing for eternity. It was a year of intense dirt storms, gales, rollers, and floods mixed with economic depression , sickness, and disaster.
In June of 1936, dust storms increased and the temperature only got worse. This year was marked with its own series of earthquakes, from Kenton to Perryton and from Liberal to Stratford. Until 1938, dust storms and floods happened day after day, and farmers often unwillingly traded land as the land moved back and forth between Texas and Kansas. Finally, the Dust Bowl went out with a bang with the "snuster". The snuster was a blizzard made with a large mixture of snow and dirt that caused a tremendous amount of damage and suffering.